The West Family Cont'd

WEST

Posted By: Stacey McDowell Dietiker (email)
Date: 11/3/2001 at 22:40:09

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Subject: The West Family Cont'd
Date: Tuesday, July 31, 2001 5:37 PM

The West Family Cont'd

Amos West was born October 12, 1879. Amos was united in marriage to Nellie
Nevesta Ramsey, daughter of Thomas Benton and Mary Ellen Boles Ramsey,
September 3, 1902, at Osceola, in Clarke County, Iowa. Nellie Ramsey was
born in Decatur County, Iowa, July 1, 1884. She had four sisters--Olive,
Ellen, Farrie and Addie-and three brothers--James, Fred and Alex.

Amos and Nellie began their married life in a small house owned by Joshua,
one-half mile north of the place Dale and Ruth now live. They started
housekeeping with a round oak table, six matching chairs and a mantel
pendulum, eight-day clock. Amos cleared wood from the farm and sold it at
Murray. They later moved to the place Dale and Ruth now live. They added
onto the old house that was there and in 1915, built the barn which is still
standing. Nellie was a good cook; and they had a large orchard, garden and
truck garden. She did sewing for the family.

Nellie joined the Mt. Zion Christian Church on January 26, 1908, and Amos
joined on January 23, 1911. Nellie had taken music lessons as a girl and
played the piano at the church. Amos and Nellie bought an upright piano from
W. A. Alexander in Leon for their home.

The roads were dirt and they had to go many places by horse and buggy. Amos
and Nellie's first car was a black 1917, touring Model T. Ford. In 1928,
they bought a dark gray Whippet 6.

Three children were born, the oldest dying in infancy, February 6, 1905, and
Lowell Audrey passed away at the age of four years. He was born July 7, 1906
and died August 7, 1910. Thomas Dale was born September 11, 1921.

Amos and Nellie went through W.W.I, the Depression and the drought years of
the 30's; but there were also good times. They took an excursion trip on the
Mississippi River in a steamboat, went back to Illinois for visits, and the
family camped overnight at the Iowa State Fair.

Dale attended Elm Grove No. 8, rural school in Long Creek Township, and
graduated from Grand River High School in 1939.

He attended summer school at Simpson College at Indianola, Iowa, received his
teacher's certificate, and accepted a position in a rural school in Union
County. On July 28, 1939, while Dale was at summer school, Amos died at the
Harken Hospital in Osceola from cancer. Funeral services were held at the
Mt. Zion Christian Church with burial at Whellis Cemetery. Amos was
fifty-nine years old, and Dale was seventeen. Dale taught until the spring
term and then returned home.

Dale and his mother continued the operation of the farm, and the land passed
in to the third generation. At the time of Amos' death he owned
three-hundred-thirty-five and one-third acres of land in Richland and Long
Creek Townships. Dale bought twenty acres more making
three-hundred-fifty-five and one-third acres.

Dale planted his first hybrid seen corn in 1940. He traded in his Dad's
Whippet 6 for his first car, a 1942 Chevy. He got possession December 6,
1941, and the next day Pearl Harbor was bombed. Dale bought the farm's first
tractor in 1943, with a W.W. II ration certificate. It was an H Farmall with
8-38 tires, no hydraulic system, gelt pulley, starting or lighting assembly.
When W. W. II ended, Dale bought the missing parts as they became available
and changed the tires. Dale passed his army exam at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas;
the war ended, and he didn't have to go. Two of the greatest improvements
were when REA put in electricity in 1947, and in 1951, when the road was
rocked.

Dale, Nellie, Burton and Ellen visited the west coast in 1949, and Dale and
Nellie went south and to the east coast in October 1961. They went back and
visited the original Ramsey homestead where he immigrated from Ireland to
Tennessee. Malcom Tiedje and Dale went to the World's Fair at Seattle,
Washington, in 1962.

Dale built an all electric home in 1966, and moved the old house up in the
field. Nellie died at the Decatur County Hospital, Leon, November 24, 1970,
at the age of eight-six years. Funeral services were held at Slade Funeral
Home in Leon with burial at the Whellis Cemetery.

Dale was untied in marriage to Ruth Darlene Andersen, daughter of Glen W. and
Fanny Hansen Anderson of Atlantic, Iowa, August 8, 1971, at Our Savior's
Lutheran church in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The Rev. Neve performed the double
ring ceremony, with a reception following. Dale and Ruth flew to Nassau in
the Bahamas for their wedding trip. Ruth was an elementary teacher. Ruth
has three sisters: Anna, Dorothy and Betty.

In 1974, Dale and Ruth added a large machine shed and all electric dryer bin
and in 1975, they purchased a 870 Case tractor with cab and big baler. In
August, 1981, they will receive the Century Farm Marker and Certificate at
the Iowa State Fair.

Copied from Reflections of Grand River, Iowa 1881-1981 by Stacey McDowell
Dietiker

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